I got the SLA shafts from RobotJay today. At a first glance they look great. It appears the nub is far better centered than I can do with my shaddy lathe attempts. I can't wait to try this out in an OE. I think it will make the process much easer to assemble.

I completely forgot my butane Radio Shack iron has that hot air torch option. I now have a re-flow toaster oven, so I don't have a lot of need for a hot air tool, unless I want to do some rework. So far I've done OK with the rework dept.

I've had good success with a rough assembly of the parts. These SLA shafts look like they will be much better than my prior lathe theory. I still need to find some fishing twine or similar item to make the shaft a compression fit.

I am glad to see that they stopped sanding off the top of the MCU. If you're inclined, you should try removing the mega8 and slapping a mega168 in there. If you're NOT inclined, you should send some of the boards to me, and I'll see what I can do. . Either way, nice vids. It looks like the OE works like a dream inside the MG995/996 servo. Talk to you soon.

-Jay_________________"Nothing is fool-proof; For we fools are ingenious and will find a way."

I ordered some of the boards from BatchPCB a couple weeks ago, and they shipped today. I noticed that you added a BOM to the OE Construction tutorial, thanks. There is a discrepancy between the value of C2 in your BOM and the capacitance of the part you reference. Is this supposed to be a 10uF part, or a 0.1uF part? Thanks.

-Jay_________________"Nothing is fool-proof; For we fools are ingenious and will find a way."

Sorry about that. It's a bulk buffer cap. On page 9 of the data sheet I was looking at, it shows that cap between 2.2uF and 10uF. I just changed the web page to a 2.2uF, however, the .1 has worked just fine for the ones I've made. There is a good chance that upstream capacitance has taken care of bulk issues. That 100nF is for spikes that need a fast response.

Also thanks for voting for the OE board in Batch. Once I saw that voting thing, I figured out how to vote. Last I checked, and with my self vote, OE was the most voted for. It's kind of cool to know I made a board that's on top of the charts with BatchPCB.

It's been a little while since I got to play with OE. I just got an entire 30 minutes to play a bit more. I tried the fishing twine theory. It shows promise, but needs some more work. The twine I have is from a friends kids fishing rod. I put the magnet on the steal desk I was working on, then I placed a small piece of the twine over the magnet hole, then I pushed the SLA shaft with pot body onto the magnet. It pressed on fairly easy, but also would rotate on the shaft fairly easy. So I think a larger twine is order. The one I had measures via calipers at .011 inches diameter. So I'll have to stop by a local fishing supply store, and see if I can find one that's a pinch bigger. I'd bet .015 would be just right.

Other form and fit tests have worked out well. There is a bit of a residue on these shafts that has to be cleaned off, but once that is cleaned off and the runner nubs are cut off, these fit nice and tight in the gear slot. This mild interference fit means the magnet should be an exact measurement of the output gear. I could see how the original brass shaft could have a mild backlash. So things are looking good.

This maybe an easy and simple solution to the alignment problem of the magnet.
I found a nail that perfectly fits the whole in the magnet (very cheap!)
Now all there has to be done is drill a hole in the existing shaft (using a lathe) and use some glue to hold it together.